Ben Shepherd's Soundgarden Offshoot Hater Gets the Reissue Treatment

It's a great time to be a fan of grunge-era supergroups. Coming off news this week that Temple of Dog have regained control of their master tapes, it's been revealed that similarly Soundgarden-spawned project Hater will be reissuing their self-titled debut.

A press release notes that UMe will be dusting off 1993's Hater for CD and vinyl releases on July 15. The album had initially been delivered through A&M Records on CD and cassette in 1993, making this the first time Hater is being pressed to wax.

Founded by Soundgarden bassist Ben Shepherd, the side-project also included his full-time bandmate Matt Cameron on drums, ex-Monster Magnet guitarist John McBain, and Devilhead members John Waterman and Brian Wood. Notably, Wood is the brother of Mother Love Bone vocalist Andrew Wood, whose death in the early '90s instigated the formation of Temple of the Dog, for whom Cameron also played drums.

As for the Hater record, it was recorded between Soundgarden's 1991 effort Badmotorfinger and their smash Superunknown release from 1994. Songwriter Shepherd, who switched to guitar for the album, used the side-project to get back to his "garage rock roots."

Singles from the set included "Who Do I Kill?" and "Circles," while the album also featured covers of Cat Stevens's "Mona Bona Jakon" and country artist Billy "Edd" Wheeler's "Blistered."

Hater would disband in 1997, but Shepherd brought the project back in 2005 to release sophomore collection The 2nd. The lineup was much different, with the founder then collaborating with former Void guitarist Bubba Dupree, Broadcast Oblivion's Andrew Church and Zen Guerrilla drummer Andy Duvall.